Daniel ' POV
I stared at the note in the silver frame for what felt like hours, reading the same words over and over until they blurred together. Kate's handwriting was shaky, probably from the pain she was in when she wrote it.
*"For the family we could have been. I hope someday you remember the woman who loved you both."*
My hands trembled as I set the frame down. This was just another one of her guilt trips. She'd done this before—packed a bag, threatened to leave to make me feel bad about something. Then she'd come back within a day or two, apologizing and trying to make up for whatever had upset her.
Kate didn't have anywhere else to go. I crumpled up the note and threw it in the trash. She'd be back by dinner, guaranteed.
The rest of the day crawled by. Every time my phone buzzed, I expected it to be Kate begging to come home. Instead, it was just work emails and a few texts from Jessica asking if I needed anything.
When I finally left the office at six, I felt oddly nervous. The whole drive home, I kept telling myself Kate would be there. She'd probably cooked my favorite meal as an apology.
But as I pulled into the driveway, the house looked... empty. Dark. None of the usual lights were on in the kitchen.
I walked through the front door and called out, "Kate? I'm home!"
Silence.
The kitchen was spotless but cold. No smell of dinner cooking.
"Kate?" I called again, louder this time.
Mom appeared at the top of the stairs, holding Ethan's hand. "She's not here, Daniel. I told you—she's gone."
"She'll be back," I said, more to convince myself than anyone else. "She's just... making a point."
I wasn't hungry but my stomach felt twisted up in knots.
I walked past them and headed upstairs to our bedroom. Kate's side of the closet was completely empty. Her perfume bottles were gone from the dresser. Even her pillow was missing from the bed.
I sat down on the edge of the mattress, staring at the empty space where her things used to be. The room felt huge and cold without her stuff cluttering it up.
I'd always complained about how she left her books everywhere, how she never put her jewelry back in the right place.
Now I would have given anything to see her reading glasses on the nightstand or her hair ties scattered across the dresser.
I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. It went straight to voicemail.
"Kate, it's me. Look, whatever this is about, we can work it out. Just come home, okay? Ethan needs you. I need you. Please call me back."
I hung up and immediately felt stupid. She was probably listening to the message right now, smiling as she planned her dramatic return.
The house felt different that night. Too quiet. Usually Kate would be bustling around, getting Ethan ready for bed, reminding me about meetings I had the next day. Instead, Jessica had handled everything with an efficiency that somehow made me feel worse.
"Daddy?" Ethan appeared in my doorway around eleven, holding his stuffed elephant. "I can't sleep."
"What's wrong, buddy?"
"The room's too dark. Kate usually leaves the hallway light on for me."
I looked down the hall. Jessica must have turned it off. "I'll turn it on for you."
"And she always checks under my bed for monsters," Ethan continued. "And she leaves my door open just a little bit so I can see the light."
Each thing he said felt like a small punch to my chest. I'd never realized how many little things Kate did for him every single night.
"I can do that," I said, walking him back to his room. I turned on the hallway light, checked under his bed, and left his door cracked open.
Now go to sleep, I said to ethan as I returned to the room.
I must have fallen asleep around midnight, but something jolted me awake. I lay there in the dark, listening.
What had woken me up?
Then I heard it. A scream from down the hall.
I shot out of bed and ran to Ethan's room. He was sitting up in bed, his whole body shaking. His face was pale in the moonlight streaming through his window.
"Ethan! What's wrong?"
He looked at me with wide, frightened eyes. For a moment, he didn't seem to recognize me.
"The monsters," he whispered. "They're in the dark. They're trying to get me."
"There are no monsters, buddy. It's just a bad dream."
I reached out to touch his shoulder, but he flinched away from me.
"Kate always checks under the bed," he said, his voice tiny. "She always looks in the closet. She makes sure they're gone."
My heart twisted. "I can check. I can do that."
"No!" Ethan shook his head frantically. "You don't know how. Kate knows the right way. Kate makes them go away."
I got down on my knees and looked under the bed anyway. "See? Nothing there."
But when I stood up, Ethan was crying.
"They're still there. I can feel them watching. Kate always says the magic words. She always makes them disappear."
"What magic words? I can say them too."
Ethan looked at me like I was crazy. "You don't believe in them. Kate said the magic only works if you really believe. You think I'm being a baby."
"That's not true, Ethan. I—"
"Where is she?" he interrupted, his voice breaking. "Where's Kate? Why isn't she coming to help me?"
"She's... she had to go away for a while."
Another scream tore from his throat, and he pressed himself against the headboard like he was trying to disappear into the wall.
"Ethan, please. Let me help you."
"You can't!" he sobbed. "
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. He kept screaming her name, over and over, begging her to come back and make the darkness go away.
I stood there helplessly, watching my son fall apart, and realized that Kate hadn't just left me.
She'd left us both.
